This is the saxophonist Daniel Glatzel's Berlin-based 18-piece contemporary orchestra's fourth album since forming a decade ago. Vula draws from a colourfully diverse and restless panorama of contemporary classical, jazz, space age rock and latin music but sounds like it belongs in a new sub-genre all of its own. There's a cohesion though and Glatzel's orchestrations emphasise the lighter acoustic timbres of woodwinds and strings, and at times it gives you an idea of what good easy-listening music might sound like if it was played by avant-garde musicians. The opening title has echoes of ‘Les Six’ impressionist composers, a special nod going out to Darius Milhaud's early jazz-inspired ‘La Création du Monde’ with an emerging dissonance lurking ominously in the backdrop. ‘In Light of Turmoil’ is a kaleidoscopic riot of Frank Zappa-like chattering melodies while ‘J Schleia’ juxtaposes J Dilla beats and sunnily conversational Hermeto Pascoal-like melodies – the great white-bearded Brazilian is a major influence and was a special guest of the ensemble on a 2015 mini-tour that showcased Glatzel's arrangements of some of Hermeto's compositions. ‘qwetoipntv vjadfklvjieop’, as it says on the lid, is an abstract, pointillist collage of passing noise-electronic samples and instrumental motifs. If listening to the album as a whole is a little similar to the feeling of being dazzled by a movie's special effects, there's hardly a dull moment.